A Statistical Evaluation of In Vitro Micronucleus Assay in Toxicology

Abstract

The study of DNA damage at the chromosome level is an essential part of genetic toxicology. Three different statistical aspects were considered in analyzing results from in vitro micronucleus assay. One aspect is concerned with the possible presence of overdispersion, the second aspect is the choice between p-values and confidence interval, and the third aspect is the type of inference. In this project, the possible genotoxic effect of D/L Menthol was investigated by analyzing the frequencies of micronuclei in cultured lymphocytes exposed to D/L Menthol. Under the test conditions of the assay, D/L Menthol, either in the presence or absence of metabolic activation (S-9), did not induce a clear dose-dependent increase in the micronuclei occurrence. This result suggests that D/L Menthol did not have a chromosomal-damaging effect in mammalian lymphocytes.